I don’t know why she said that. We were clearly getting along very well until just now.

But I also know that since we both came of age, my relationship with Mingyi has gotten increasingly distant. I don’t know the reason. Perhaps she is deeply homophobic, because she is disgusted with my relationship with Mingcheng.

This resistance reached its peak in the first half of the year when Mingcheng and I got married. I saw the brother and sister quarrel very fiercely several times. Mingcheng rushed out the door with a cold expression, and she smashed things in anger.

And every time I tried to break up a fight, it just caused the situation to get more and more out of control.

In the next six months, Mingyi would occasionally meet with me, but she rarely had contact with her brother.

In fact, every time I made an appointment with her, it was with the attitude of trying to draw her back, but it obviously ended in failure every time.

I smile faintly in frustration: “If you don’t want to, forget it.”

Adults should know how to touch on a topic lightly. I plan to go home. Mingcheng should be getting off work in a few hours, and if Mingyi is truly resistant, I don’t want to embarrass her. She is Mingcheng’s sister, the sister I watched grow up, even though she may hate me now.

I’m about to leave, but Mingyi suddenly reaches out of the car window and grabs my wrist, saying urgently: “Wait!”

I stop. My eyes light up when she tells me to stay, and I turn back to give her a meaningful look: “How about it? If you’re willing, me and Mingcheng will personally cook for our Mingyi.”

Her brow is furrowed. She is noncommittal about my words and looks at me in a way that I can’t parse. After retracting her hand, she takes a few deep puffs of smoke, crushes the remaining half of the cigarette, and actually opens the door to walk out.

It is a warm summer afternoon. I see her standing tall and slender beside her car, and after I hear her take a few deep breaths, she calls to me in a tone similar to her brother’s: “A-Zhen…..”

Every time I see her, I marvel at how powerful her genes are. Although she is a woman, she looks very similar to her brother Mingcheng in many aspects, and sometimes even her tone of voice is similar.

I motion for her to continue.

But then a phone call interrupts the chat that my sister-in-law and I are about to have.

Mingyi also seems annoyed. She hangs up the phone angrily without even looking at it.

But this caller is very persistent, and calls back in less than two seconds.

The woman frowns and looks down at the phone screen. Her expression changes slightly, and she raises her head to take a quick glance at me, saying: “Wait a minute.” Then she answers the phone and walks a few steps away to avoid me.

Women of this age have secrets of their own, and I’m too embarrassed to listen to them. Fortunately, she took a few steps away to conceal it.

The phone call is not short, around ten minutes. I’m a little awkward while waiting, and just when I can’t help but want to watch a short video, Mingyi finally comes back.

I breathe a sigh of relief and wait for her to come into the house with me, but see her walking in a straight line to her dark blue car.

“Huh?” I stop her and weakly ask, “…..Mingyi, don’t you have something to tell me?”

“I have nothing to say.” She closes the car door and neatly fastens her seatbelt. She doesn’t look at me the entire time, and perhaps because she had smoked, her usually cold voice is slightly hoarse. “…..I parted ways with my brother when you got married. I…..don’t want to come in. If you have time, go back to the Wen family house often to see our parents.”

I pause. I might have said I was disappointed, but I’m used to it. Her softened attitude is already good progress. Seeing that she is about to leave, I can’t help but tell her: “Be careful on the road.”

She still refuses to look at me, taking another cigarette out of its case. After some thought, she tosses it onto the passenger seat and says dully: “En.”

I smile softly: “Stop smoking. Your voice sounded so sweet when you were a kid. Even your brother quit smoking during these years.”

She has already started the vehicle, but after hearing this, she finally looks at me. The eyes of the brother and sister are also similar, but Mingcheng’s eyes are upturned and his gaze always contains a smile, whereas Mingyi’s eyes are direct and clear, sometimes filled with boredom.

Hearing what I said, she suddenly smiles with unknown meaning. The smile is very brief, and passes in an instant. “You really love my brother, ah.”

I am a married adult, and not shy about my feelings, so I nod calmly: “Of course, I love him very much.”

Mingyi leaves.

I watch her leave the residential area, then I turn around and go home.

But then I hear the rumbling vehicle coming back again. I’m confused about her behavior today, and Mingyi’s car stops directly in front of me.

She lowers her car window, purses her lips as if recalling something, and then takes a sachet out of her handbag and hands it to me.

I think it is a small gift from her, but when I take it, I find that the sachet is actually sealed with cinnabar, and there is a faint burnt scent lingering in the palm of my hand. “This is…..”

Mingyi says: “This is the protective jade your mother bought for you. She personally went to the Baichen Monastery and made offerings for two months, and she wants you to wear it day and night.”

“You went out of your way to see my mother before coming here?” I keenly grasp the hidden information.

Mingyi ignores my words and speaks of something else: “Auntie said that the trip you and my…..brother took to Southeast Asia was very ominous, so she wants you to pay more attention…..”

Mingcheng and I got married six months ago. According to the plan, we would go to Turkey and Paris for our honeymoon, but not long before leaving, Mingcheng changed his mind and insisted on going to a small country in Southeast Asia. Most of the time, he was at my whim and rarely insisted on what to do. I didn’t want to disappoint him, so I agreed.

This trip was not as difficult as I had imagined. Although that country was small, it was not very backward. It still had the things that should be there, but it was very religious. People believed in all sorts of supernatural beings, and bizarre sacrificial dances could be seen everywhere on the streets. The atmosphere there was indescribably weird.

In particular, when worshiping a statue with Mingcheng, I truly saw the strangeness of that place.

The statue turned out to be double-sided. The front looked like an ordinary god statue with colorful, benevolent gilded features, but the back side had a dark black torso and fangs on its face. The two torsos with completely different identities and temperaments were merged together. When I knelt down, there was a crawling sensation along my back. 

But Mingcheng was very interested, and even chatted with the divine attendant for the afternoon. I didn’t know what they talked about, but in the end, he brought back a black doll.  

Unlike the terrifying statue of the god, although this doll was black, it was exquisitely carved, with strong, exotic cultural colors. It seemed to be very old. The top of the doll’s head was inlaid with Eastern pearls, which had disappeared in the Qing Dynasty hundreds of years ago, and the back was engraved with ancient characters. The whole thing was colored black under the light, a thick ink that could not be melted away.

I praised Mingcheng’s insight, then forced him to put it into a cabinet and not take it out.

I suddenly remember this when Mingyi mentions it.

People always like to look for some kind of supernatural reason when things go wrong. I feel that my abnormal illness these past two days probably has something to do with this little black doll. 

It is really a bit unlucky.

After bidding farewell to Mingyi, I plan to deal with this little black doll.

It’s a little funny that the man who sold it to Mingcheng was an old Chinese national. When we bought it, the old man even stopped me to add his mobile phone number. “Please keep in touch, young sir.”

The old man’s contact information is still in my address book. 

In the end, it is something the divine attendant brought, so when dealing with this, I ask him what to do.

In fact, I never thought there would be after-sale service for this kind of transaction that looked like a money trap at first glance, but to my surprise, the call actually goes through.

After listening to my words, the old divine attendant mutters for a while in a hoarse, heavy voice and says to me: “You do as I say. First place it underground…..”

Underground? Why underground?

Wouldn’t it be bad to dig a hole and bury it??

After much deliberation, I decide to put it in a cabinet in the basement. I am really too kind.

After closing the cabinet, I recite three times according to the divine attendant’s repeated instructions: “Please do not come into my house.”

Although it is troublesome, I do everything that I need to do.

After doing this, I take a comfortable bath and then put the protective jade my mother had bought me around my neck. This is a Hetian Pixiu pendant with a milky white color. The pixiu is innocent and cute, with bright, round eyes. At first glance, my mother had chosen it due to her aesthetic tastes.

The quality of the jade is also very good, its surface smooth and oily, generating warmth.

I can’t put it down, and play with it for a while. I find that today is a good day. Not only did I go out and get a gift, but it is also a day without work. I’m in a happy mood, and decide to cook.

I am busy until 5:10 making dinner. I make a call for candlesticks and white roses, preparing the props for a candlelit dinner.

At 5:25, I light the scented candlesticks. In order to add to the atmosphere, I prepare music in advance, hoping to satisfy Mingcheng’s desire to dance after the meal.

At 5:30, I sit at the table. But Mingcheng doesn’t come home.

At 5:40, Mingcheng is not home.

The sky is dark, and Mingcheng isn’t home……

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Chapter 3 << Table of Contents >> Chapter 5